Speaking at the opening ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan and Chairman of Vietnam‘s National Committee on APEC 2006, stressed that it is the great honour and responsibility for Vietnam to be the host of APEC, one of the world leading economic forums, and that Vietnam will do its best to live up to the trus >>>

PM Khai said a rapid increase in exports would help promote economic development and solve the matter of job generation. Therefore, he added, every economic sector, association and business must map out their own development and export strategies.

During his meeting with Antonio Maria Costa, Undersecretary General of the UN, Director General of the UN Office in Vienna, and Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Hanoi, President Luong also said that Vietnam‘s efforts to implement the UN–set millennium targets, including in t >>>

Speaking at a reception in Hanoi given to Okuda Hiroshi, chairman of Nippon Keidanren on a visit to Vietnam from February 27 to March 3, President Luong affirmed that Vietnam would continue to be persistent in its renovation policy. He expressed his pleasure at the on–going efforts of the two Governments in imple >>>

US President terms N pact with India ‘difficult issue’ Manmohan receives Bush New Delhi—President Bush arrived in India on Wednesday as talks on a landmark U.S.–Indian nuclear pact were down to the wire and tens of thousands of Indians rallied across the country to protest his visit.

Job market expanded with huge investment in infrastructure Abu Talha Islamabad—Government is expected to create over 2 million additional jobs by June this year as the job market has been expanding with a fast pace for the last two years.

Sources in the Finance Ministry quoting Labour Force Survey said from Ju >>>

Musharraf asks world to prevent recurrence Aroosa Alam Islamabad—President General Pervez Musharraf has said the Muslims of all shades of opinion around the world are united in their outrage and strong condemnation of the publication of sacrilegious sketches and expressed their deepest anger against the blasphemy.>>>

Baghdad—Saddam Hussein told judges Wednesday that he ordered the trials of Shiites who eventually were executed in the 1'80s and said their lands should be confiscated, but he insisted that those actions were not criminal.

The former Iraqi leader also said his co–defendants should be freed, and he al >>>

Villa confiscated; High Court appoints Examination Magistrate for judicial investigation Mahmood Hussain Islamabad—There have been more startling revelations regarding the corruption and money laundering of the former prime minister and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairperson Benazir Bhutto. Sources at the Nationa >>>

March 2 2006 02:00 ×Brazil and Venezuela have announced in the past week that they intend to retire their outstanding Brady bonds. It means the virtual extinction of an asset class, created from 1'80s–era defaulted bank loans. Once the two buybacks are complete, JPMorgan has calculated that just $10.1bn >>>

March 2 2006 02:00 The US yesterday expressed concern that ever more sophisticated drug–trafficking cartels were using China‘s inadequately controlled financial system to launder their proceeds, possibly even getting tax breaks in the process.

March 2 2006 02:00 Speculation over the political survival of Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand‘s prime minister, intensified yesterday as the premier was forced publicly to reject persistent rumours of his imminent resignation, while the army chief ruled out a military coup.

March 1 2006 17:44 Four years after joining the World Trade Organisation, China and Taiwan are finally finding ways to deal with bilateral trade disputes under WTO rules despite the political deadlock that keeps their governments from directly talking to each other.

March 1 2006 17:44 Four years after joining the World Trade Organisation, China and Taiwan are finally finding ways to deal with bilateral trade disputes under WTO rules despite the political deadlock that keeps their governments from directly talking to each other.

March 2 2006 02:00 Four years after joining the World Trade Organisation, China and Taiwan are finally finding ways to deal with bilateral trade disputes under WTO rules despite the political deadlock that keeps their governments from directly talking to each other.

March 2 2006 02:00 North Korean and US officials will on Tuesday sit down for long–awaited discussions about the crippling financial sanctions Washington has imposed on Pyongyang, the first step forward in months for the moribund talks on North Korea‘s nuclear ambitions.

March 1 2006 22:07 Arcelor managers would be prepared to talk to executives at Mittal Steel about the hostile ň'4;ě18.6bn ( ';12.6bn) bid being made by Mittal for the Luxembourg company, Guy Doll é, chief executive of Arcelor, said last night.

March 1 2006 18:56 Public sector workers in Hamburg, northern Germany, will return to work on Thursday after unions reached a compromise with the city–state that could herald the end of the country‘s first public sector strike in 14 years.

March 1 2006 22:06 France on Wednesday unveiled new weapons in its arsenal for protecting French companies against on Wednesday foreign bidders, as its politicians came under fire over their rising protectionist rhetoric.

March 1 2006 1':26 The European Union‘s long and troubled campaign against "poison pills" and other takeover defences is heading for a further setback, with more and more member states deciding not to apply key provisions of the EU takeover directive.

March 2 2006 02:00 Italy and Poland have failed to dispel suspicions that they have broken European law by colluding with the US over "secret prisons" and extra–legal abductions, the 46–nation Council of Europe said yesterday.

March 2 2006 02:00 Italy‘s economy stagnated last year, according to official data yesterday that gave fresh ammunition to the political opponents of Silvio Berlusconi, prime minister, and took the gloss off upbeat news on the eurozone economic outlook.

March 2 2006 02:00 JoaquĂ­n Almunia, European Union monetary affairs commissioner, said yesterday he was optimistic the new German government was on track to bring its budget deficit below the limit imposed by the euro stability pact.

Mr Almunia said his confidence was fuelled by discussions with the gov >>>

March 2 2006 02:00 Public sector workers in Hamburg, northern Germany, will return to work today after unions reached a compromise with the city–state that could herald the end of the country‘s first public sector strike in 14 years.

March 2 2006 02:00 Public sector workers in Hamburg, northern Germany, will return to work today after unions reached a compromise with the city–state that could herald the end of the country‘s first public sector strike in 14 years.

March 2 2006 02:00 France yesterday unveiled new weapons in its arsenal for protecting French companies against hostile foreign bidders, as its politicians came under fire over their rising protectionist rhetoric.

March 2 2006 02:00 Gilles Lassus is hunched over a map in the village of Tramoyes worrying about his ducks. No wonder. His farm is in the Ain department, where last week hundreds of turkeys were found to be carrying the H5N1 virus, making it the first region in the European Union to have a big outbreak of the lethal b >>>

March 1 2006 17:41 Gilles Lassus is hunched over a map in the village of Tramoyes worrying about his ducks.

No wonder. His farm is in the Ain department, where last week hundreds of turkeys were found to be carrying the H5N1 virus, making it the first region in Europe to have poultry infected with bird flu.>>>

March 2 2006 02:00 The European Union‘s long and troubled campaign against "poison pills" and other takeover defences is heading for a further setback, with more and more member states opting out of applying key provisions of the EU takeover directive.

March 1 2006 23:31 Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the former Shah of Iran who still holds out the possibility of returning to the throne, expressed his frustration with Iran‘s fractious opposition groups on Wednesday, urging them to unite against the Islamic regime.

March 2 2006 02:00 Hamas should be allowed a period of grace in which to form a peace strategy before the international community decides whether to shun the Islamic movement, Abdul Ilah Khatib, Jordanian foreign minister, told the FT yesterday.

March 1 2006 16:42 Three Kenyan journalists have been arrested in connection with a political article concerning the president in what many view as an attempt to intimidate the country‘s increasingly active mediia.

The two editors and a reporter with The Standard newspaper were detained on Tuesday and r >>>

March 2 2006 02:00 Iraq was last night facing political turmoil in addition to its deteriorating security situation with signs that the non–Shia parties are uniting to block Ibrahim Jaafari remaining as prime minister.

March 1 2006 17:18 The bombing of three rural voting stations ahead of South Africa‘s municipal poll on Wednesday was a sign that, almost 12 years after the advent of democracy, people are running out of patience with the ruling African National Congress‘ ability to make their lives better.

March 2 2006 08:17 Europe‘s bourses were buoyed by positive numbers from Deutsche Telekom and luxury goods group LVMH on Thursday ahead of an expected quarter percentage point interest rate rise in the eurozone to 2.5 per cent.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 rose 0.3 per cent to 1,360.38 with the Xetra Dax in F >>>

March 2 2006 10:04 Aviva shares moved ahead in morning trade in London on Thursday as equity markets opened strongly higher. Insurers supported the opening rally along with oil and gas stocks which rose on further overnight gains in crude oil prices.

March 2 2006 03:26 Moderate rises in a range of export–focused and domestic stocks pushed up Japanese stock indices on Thursday morning. By midday the Nikkei 225 was 0.3 per cent higher at 16,013.3'. The Topix rose 0.5 per cent to 1,644.12.

March 2 2006 02:44 Senior regulators and bankers from around the world on Wednesday said progress had been made in improving the stability of the global financial system, but that much more needed to be done.

The comments came after a one–day meeting in New York designed to gauge progress made in improv >>>

March 2 2006 02:00 Microfinance, the business of making tiny loans to individuals in developing countries, is taking a step forward with the launch of the biggest attempt yet to generate funding through the international capital markets.